For students, banking 2.0 involves social media

By eCampus News staff and wire reports

March 13th, 2013

Let’s say you’re in college. You’re taking a full load of courses, balancing classes with a work-study job that pays minimum wage, and whether you eat or not depends entirely on the credit still left on your weekly meal plan, ABC News reports. Money’s tight and you’re caught in between independence and still having to rely on your parents’ generosity. Financially speaking, college students are in a unique position . . . and it’s not an attractive one to banks. A basic checking account is essential for everyday purchases, but banks stand to make little if any profit off a typical student’s minor transactions. Additionally, the Credit CARD Act of 2009 makes it illegal for creditors to issue credit to anyone under 21, a previously lucrative practice that targeted inexperienced, underage consumers, setting them up for a potentially lifelong burden of debt. With such a low net worth, students’ banking needs are often overlooked…